


Waves in the Air

by SaintAstra



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Crimson Egg Arc hints, Disunion Era, Found Family, Gen, Kinda, Missing Scene, Not Beta Read, Ranboo POV, rated for swearing that's it, we die like wilbut soot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:56:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintAstra/pseuds/SaintAstra
Summary: “You missed the goodbyes.”And Punz, Punz smiles with too much teeth. “Nah. Don't think I did.”[Missing scene, in which convincing the SMP to fight is a lot easier than expected.]
Comments: 3
Kudos: 98





	Waves in the Air

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long time since I've written a fic, let alone posted it so this isn't exactly up to snuff as I want, but eh, I go back to work so it's now or never. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! I do actually welcome polite critiques, so if you spot any misspellings or weird grammar let me know~

Tommy and Tubbo leave. They walk to the end of Path Prime, until they are beyond the horizon, and not even the gleam of their enchantments are visible.

It's not like the other times. Not like the festivals, or other wars, or even Doomsday.

The air is not thrumming with the blood of battle, the charge of chaos, the acridity of despair.

It is stifling.

It is nothing but quiet, pitiful defeat.

Ranboo thinks that maybe everyone will leave once they've said their goodbyes. That they will go back to their daily routines, to their homes, to their projects. To spend this day to grieve in their own ways. 

No one leaves.

Not a single person leaves.

They drift, instead. They flit between each other, mingling but careful not to go far from their best friends, and not to stray too far from Path Prime. There's some newfound unity, in this, the End of the Disc War, the day that Tubbo and Tommy have gone to die.

The chatter is pleasant. Ranboo finds he doesn't really know what to do, who to talk to, but he's pulled into a few conversations here and there. No one seems eager to bring up past strife, of which there is plenty. Everyone is too defeated to care what slights they're supposed to be angry about.

They try to stay away from _the_ topic.

It doesn't last – no one on this Server is known for their tact and decorum, least of all when they're in groups – and it isn't long before Puffy is openly mourning that children will die today, refusing to cry, but mourning nonetheless, even as a few give half-hearted protests that they might survive, or at least one of them might _(but they wouldn't, there can't be one without the other)_ and there's even the mention of bets, which is quickly shot down with no less than four punches thrown.

Ranboo doesn't want to cry. He doesn't think he has it in him, not until he sees the death messages. It won't be real until then.

Everyone has their communicators out. On their belts, in their hands, all within reach. They check them constantly, like there aren't a dozen of them all doing the same thing, like when the news breaks it won't come like a tidal wave and sweep them all at once into that deep ocean of despair.

They wait and mill about for what seems like ages, till the sun is beginning to set.

Till the sun sets.

Till night falls completely.

And then finally, _finally_ , something happens.

Punz.

He steps out from his tower steps, down the path, to where everyone has settled and strewn about along the wood and craters and grass, underneath the glowstone lights and surrounded by torches.

“Hey, Punz.” Sam says, waving from where he's been scribbling on a notepad. “You missed the goodbyes.”

And Punz, Punz smiles with too much teeth. “Nah. Don't think I did.” 

His voice is...confident. Borderline devious.

Sam narrows his eyes and Puffy stands up from where she'd been filling in yet another creeper hole. “What are you talking about?”

Ranboo blinks as he realizes Punz is armed to the teeth, fully decked out in his best gear and weapons, with shimmering potions at his hips. “I know where Dream is.” he says. “I know where he's got Tommy and Tubbo. And I'm gonna stop him.”

“Stop him?” Ant repeats, blinking with purple eyes _(weren't they blue?)_. His tail swishes.

Punz's grin is sharp as his blade. “Yeah. The shit he's gonna pull – well, let's just say what's been going down is just the _start_.”

There's a flash of grief, as they remember what has been lost, the suffering, the pain that has been brought. None of them had been untouched.

Sapnap's voice is low when he finally speaks. “Why are you helping them? I know you fought with us in Doomsday but...”

Punz is beginning to walk away, towards the Nether Portal, but he pauses. “I'm a mercenary. Tommy paid me to help him. Now, I can go alone...or....”

A pause as he waits for all eyes to be on him.

And oh, his grin is _feral_.

“ _Or_ , I can bring everybody to the party.”

There's a moment of silence as everyone absorbs what's being said, and then-

“Oh fuck yes! We're gonna fuck that motherfucker up!” Quackity crows, scrambling to his feet.

It's a wave that crashes, the way that everyone suddenly decides to start moving.

Bad and Ant seem particularly excited, whispering about power vacuums. Ponk is wheedling Sam for arrows, while Sapnap is trying to get Quackity to put armor on, insisting he can't go into battle shirtless. Niki is adjusting Jack's armor and the two are grim and silent. Eret is looking more like a king than they have in a long time, his crown gleaming in the glow of torches, Hbomb and Puffy at her side like the Knights they once were. Callahan is quiet, like Ranboo, hovering closely to the group.

There are questions - he has a few of them himself - but they have time for that on the way.

_They have time._

Quackity's enthusiasm is infectious, and there is something searing in the air, something warm as sunlight and powerful as lightning, as Punz patiently waits for them to group up, and the barriers break - they're all checking each other's armor, Sam has potions because of course he does, and there are arrows being passed around, and golden carrots, and Ranboo feels a rush of something as he sees everyone, for the first time, acting like the Server they were supposed to be.

But he's unable to stop himself from frowning as he fidgets anxiously at the idea of going to face Dream _(dreamisthereason)_ , to find Tommy and Tubbo _(what'sleftofthem)_.

“You coming, kid?”

Ranboo realizes the others are all a bit ahead, going towards the main Nether portal, but Punz is waiting, sword slung over his shoulder and the white of his hoodie is stark against the purple-black netherite.

There's something gleaming in his eyes, something shiny and a bit...red.

Ranboo nods. “Yeah. Let's go save Tommy and Tubbo.”

“Let's fuck up Dream!”

“That bastard won't know what hit him!”

“Let's fucking goooo!”

Ranboo knows what the thing in the air is, now.

It's hope.


End file.
